Cabinets and enclosures are routinely used to store and protect their contents which may be valuable, dangerous if used incorrectly, and/or contain confidential information. In order to safeguard the contents of cabinets and enclosures, a wide array of locking systems have been devised.
A typical locking system is configured to govern access to a cabinet by selectively enabling opening of a door, lid, or drawer of the cabinet. Such locking systems often include one or more members that can be selectively positioned to enable the door, lid, or drawer to open; or positioned to prevent such opening. Such positioning can be performed by a rotatable handle or other member for example. The positionable member(s) are typically in the form of metal bars or rods which engage the door, lid, or drawer with the cabinet to prevent opening; and disengage the door, lid, or drawer from the cabinet to enable opening.
Although the use of a single member for selectively engaging a door, lid, or drawer may be suitable for many applications, “two point” and “three point” locking systems have been developed which provide greater security against tampering and unauthorized opening of the door, lid, or drawer due to locking engagement occurring at more than one location. However, the degree of security provided by such systems varies greatly. In addition, the manner by which many of these two and three point systems are opened and/or closed is not readily intuitive in many instances.
Although satisfactory in many respects, a need exists for a multipoint locking system which is intuitive to use, yet provides a relatively high level of security.